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8 <br />T ? <br />stretch. Instead of limestone, however, the rock is Weber Sandstone, <br />which is easily eroded. Water diverted around the cobble bar flows with <br />against this outcrop and has formed on overhang of about 25 feet. On <br />the underside of the ledge moss grows, and is fairly thick and lush near ` <br />the water surface at the upstream end. <br />Most of the river flow passes through the left channel thalweg. At <br />high flow the cobble island is completely submerged. Cross-section 5 is <br />a deep pool with a sand substrate. The riffle initiates at cross- <br />section 4 and extends to cross-section 2. Cobble substrate is found in <br />both channels in the riffle with large cobbles and small boulders <br />comprising the bed material in the left channel near cross-section 3. <br />Both the cobble bars at river mile 16.5 and 18.5 are constructed of <br />cobbles deposited in a flow expansion. The cobble bar at river mile <br />18.5 has considerably more sand covering the cobbles when exposed at low <br />flow than at river mile 16.5. <br />Mathers Hole, River Mile 17.5 <br />Mathers Hole is located between the two previously described sites. <br />It was established in a pool reach of the river, which is partially <br />armored with cobble substrate. Cobble bars or islands are located <br />immediately upstream and downstream, dividing the flow and creating <br />riffles where it is constricted between the islands and bedrock walls. <br />This recurring riffle-pool sequence constitutes a reach of the Yampa <br />River from river mile (RM) 16.5 to 20.5. Cobbles bars or islands have <br />developed just upstream of each incised meander bend where the channel <br />widens. The river is described as a wide bend, point bar stream with a <br />distinct riffle-pool sequence. _ <br />The site is reasonably straight with a short longitunidal cobble <br />bar that becomes exposed at low flows. The left bank is a vertical <br />Weber Sandstone wall, six hundred feet high. The right bank is a <br />vegetated terrace rising approximately twelve feet above the cobble <br />substrate. The river has entrenched a channel below this bench which is <br />very stable up to bankfull discharge. The thalweg is permanently <br />located near the left bank. During peak flows the water surface slope <br />is uniform for several river widths downstream. A riffle-pool sequence <br />develops with dropping stage and the water surface slope through the <br />site is reduced. <br />Objectives <br />The objectives of this investigations are: <br />1) Collect field data to predict, through the application of the <br />PHABSIM computer model, the habitat availability-flow reiationship.that <br />exists for spawning and adult lifestages of the Colorado squawfish at <br />RM 16.5 and a replicate site RM 18.5. <br />2) Describe the channel morphology of the cobble substrate reach <br />in the lower Yampa River. <br />3) Relate hydraulic and sediment transport data collected at <br />other sites in the canyon with conditions observed at the RM 16.5 site.